The folks at Uppercut Games released a gorgeous trailer last week for a game they’re working on called Epoch. We had never heard of Uppercut Games, but based on the video it was clear they had some serious game-making chops. So we got in touch with Ed Orman and Andrew James, the founders of Uppercut Games, and picked their brains about their upcoming title.

Epoch is set in a post-apocalyptic world populated by robots at war. Can you elaborate on the storyline for us?

The story of Epoch is something we’re keeping under wraps for now. I can say that we’ll be drawing upon our experience on other games in the nature of the story we’re telling, and how it will be told.

Epoch appears to be a third-person shooter, with a strong focus on the cover mechanic. Does that describe the action pretty well, or will there be other gameplay mechanics involved?

It’s all about choosing where to be, who to attack and how to attack them. Your robot is capable of some impressively acrobatic moves, plus he’s Frankenstein’d together out of salvaged pieces of tech that give him different powers. Those powers have a big effect on the moment-to-moment of each combat.

In the trailer, there appears to be no visible control interface, and you describe the controls as “innovative and intuitive swipe controls.” Can you go into more detail about how the player controls the action?

We’re planning on releasing a video that shows off the controls sometime soon which will answer this in more detail.

In short, you choreograph the action using swipes and taps– they’re the kinds of actions that work great on touch devices, and it makes the game really fluid and fast. Plus, when the controls are that easy to use, you’re free to concentrate on combat tactics.

Can you tell us about your history as a game designer, and how Uppercut Games came to be?

Sure, well, back when 8-bit dinosaurs roamed the Earth, I [Ed Orman] got a break as Lead Designer on Fallout: Tactics, then jumped over to Irrational Games for Freedom Force, Tribes: Vengeance, more Freedom Force, Bioshock, and the still forthcoming XCOM reboot.

Andrew James and I worked on most of those projects together, and over the years we got a kind of mind-meld going on. As mobile devices became more powerful, we both saw an opportunity to take our AAA experiences to somewhere new and fun, and so we founded Uppercut Games.

Epoch will be a universal app, and is set to release in the fourth quarter of this year. Do you have a price in mind yet?

Price is something we’re constantly discussing, and we probably won’t have an answer until closer to launch. We are creating a quality product, so our price will reflect that.

Is there anything else about the game you’d like to tell us?

Just that we’ve revealed only a few features of the game so far– there’s lots more to talk about!– so stay tuned to Uppercut Games for more.

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